The Truth About the Downing of Flight MH17: A Political Mass Murder

On July 17th, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 (MH17) took off from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Shortly after 1:20 pm local time, the aircraft crashed near the village of Hrabove in Ukraine. From day one, American intelligence services claimed to be in possession of footage of the attack. Those images would prove that Russian-backed rebels had fired an SA-11 missile at flight MH17 from Snizhne.

But the images were never provided, nor were ever retrieved from Ukranian radar installations in the area. I do not support the conclusion of the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) that a type of surface-to-air missile shot down flight MH17. And where the DSB's mandate ended without pointing out a guilty party, I will let the evidence speak for itself. An analysis of the earliest media reports surrounding the attack says that there was no missile.

The Russians countered the obvious NATO propaganda with its own bizarre claim that Ukrainian figher jets had supposedly shot down the aircraft. But it is ludicrous to assume that fighter pilots would not be able to discern between a commercial airliner and an enemy aircraft. The Russian propaganda was meant to incriminate Ukraine for the downing.

The truth, however, lies somewhere in the middle, namely that the Ukrainian secret service, the SBU, collaborated with Western secret services from the United States, Australia, Britain, and The Netherlands in order to stage a fake "Russian" attack, and that, in all likelihood, bombs had been placed aboard, which were detonated remotely via an American-controlled satellite.

Unlike media that back their claims with anonymous sources, I will stick to verifiable facts. As the main suspect, I point to elements from within the private army of the anti-Russian aviation billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskyi, an oligarch who was governor of the adjacent region Dnepropetrovsk at the time.

The political consequence is that not Russia, but Ukraine and Western governments carry responsibility for the mass murder of 298 civilians.

The First Images

On July 16th, 2015, News Corp Australia of owner Rupert Murdoch released a shocking video.[1] The video only lasts about four minutes and shows men in military camouflage. Shortly after the attack, they plow through burning wreckage. They open bags and find a flight recorder.

But the video was not new. It had been broadcast in a slightly different form by the BBC a year earlier on the fatal day of July 17th, 2014. Correspondent John Donnison took to Twitter to demand an apology from News Corp for their supposedly 'exclusive' broadcast.[2]

The source of the video appears to be a mystery. How did the BBC receive such footage within few hours after the disaster? The Guardian claims the video had been smuggled out of a rebel base in Donetsk.[3] Donetsk lies about a two-hour drive from the crash site near Hrabove.

According to News Corp, the video is part of a longer 17-minute version. That raw footage has never been released. News Corp did, however, publish a transcription of the longer version on its website.[4] In the meantime, that page has been deleted, but can still be retrieved from the Internet Archive.

News Corp's Transcription

A combatant is looking for MH17's flight recorders. His superiors know more about the disaster.

Below I will discuss statements made by the men in the video. Four of the men call each other by name: Ruslan, Oleg, Roman, and Kalyian. They have never been arrested or questioned. Their superiors know more about the attack.

I conclude that Ruslan is the commander making the video. The commander is in contact with his superiors via telephone. Apparently, the men were sent to the crash site to find Russian pilots they thought had parachuted from a Sukhoi fighter jet. At least, that's what they think.
Commander Ruslan: "They [the superiors] say the Sukhoi (fighter) brought down the civilian plane and ours brought down the fighter."

The Russian-backed rebels do not have an air force. Another, i.e. Ukrainian fighter jet must have shot the Russian one out of the sky. The men on the spot understand very little of the situation they encounter.

Man: "It's confusing. No idea where the Sukhoi is, it's burning here and there and debris everywhere."

The two Russian pilots and the downed Sukhoi are nowhere to be found. Instead, to their own shock, they find a passenger flight. They hastily search luggage and bags to find out whose bodies they might be.

Man: "There are documents; it will tell whose plane it is right away. […] Some stewardess, not Russian. […] They are not Russian."

Commander Ruslan: "Its a Malaysian Airport [ID], Malaysian airlines. It expires on the 26th of July 2018."

Only now does it dawn upon the men that the bodies are not those of Russian parachutists, but civilians. They attempt to explain the situation.

Man: "The fighter jet brought down this one, and our people brought down the fighter."

The "fighter jet" again refers to the Russian Sukhoi they were looking for. The words "our people" cannot point to Russian-backed rebels, because they would not attack Russians. "Our people" must be Ukrainian troops. The men in the video were fighting the rebels.

Multiple Scenarios

The conversations do not immediately make it clear what the true nature of the disaster could have been, because the men don't understand it themselves. The men are just a ground crew sent to the crash site by their superiors.

News Corp's transcription leaves open four scenarios that are not all equally likely:

• A Russian Sukhoi shot down the MH17, after which a Ukrainian fighter jet - "ours" - dropped the Sukhoi from the sky. Unlikely. The supposed Russian Sukhoi and its pilots were never found.
• A Ukrainian aircraft shot down the MH17 because it confused the Boeing with a Russian fighter jet. The DSB report refutes this possibility.[5]
• A Ukrainian surface-to-air missile hit the MH17 by accident. The men's superiors believed to have hit a Russian Sukhoi. Unlikely, because the international flight route was a given.
• A Ukrainian surface-to-air missile hit the MH17 on purpose, but the superiors lied about it to their subordinates. This explains the confusion among the men on site.
• None of these scenarios are true. The men on the ground were confused by the nature of the attack, for they had not suspected bombs aboard MH17.

Regardless of the correct scenario, one thing is clear: the content of the conversations acquits the pro-Russian rebels. The rebels did not have an air force. Even in the SA-11 missile scenario, the perpetrators must have been Ukrainian combatants, because they believed to have shot down Russians.

The conclusion is that Russia wasn't involved in the downing of MH17. Then who was?

Oddly enough, News Corp first published the transcription of the video with the title "We're at the site. It's civilians", but an editor then changed the title to "Full transcript: Russian-backed rebels ransack the wreckage of MH17 in shocking 17-minute video".

The new title suggests that the men in the video were Russian-backed rebels, but the transcription proves otherwise. A year earlier, the BBC, too, suggested the men were rebels. Why have the BBC and News Corp twisted the true identity of the first men on the ground for so long?

An Italian Twist

One of the men who was at the crash site shortly after the disaster is standing in front of the cooling wagons with the first 282 bodies of the victims, on July 21st, 2014.

The BBC and News Corp video makes it clear that the men thought they were supposed to look for parachuted Russian pilots. We encounter this scenario on July 21st in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, as well as in an Italian[6] as in an English[7] version. Both versions were shared almost a thousand times on Facebook.

But journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi has given the story a twist. He records the following from a combatant:

"We shot down a Kiev plane, our superiors told us. We thought we were looking for bailed-out Ukrainian pilots but instead, we found dead civilians."

Huh?! In the News Corp transcription, we were dealing with a Russian Sukhoi fighter jet and the men were looking for the two Russian pilots. Cremonesi has switched the sides. After BBC and News Corp, now Corriere della Sera, too, has suddenly transformed the Ukrainian combatants into 'rebels'.

In Cremonesi's piece, we read that the combatants are not allowed to state their name and rank to others, probably not for no reason. To the outside world, they have to act the part and appear as Russian-backed rebels.

Intermezzo: Do You Still Trust the Media?

Joseph Resch is a German private detective who researched the attack against flight MH17. Supposedly, he brought together an informer with a Swiss envoy of an anonymous client, "perhaps an oligarch", or someone who would want to blackmail foreign governments with information about MH17.[8]

That sounds far-fetched. We don't have to take this seriously, do we? The Dutch public prosecutor took the story seriously and asked the German justice department to search Resch's house. Eleven partly heavily armed officers searched for papers and computers. They also broke open a safe in Resch's name in Switzerland. It was empty.[9]

Through a judicial process, the German judge wanted to force Resch to confess his knowledge, but he refused. It would cost him his life. That yielded the detective a suspicion of collaborating to hide a war crime.[10]

Under pressure from outside, it appears the German justice department was mostly interested in having Resch backtrack his claims: "I was told to declare that the whole matter had been a publicity stunt for my new book."[11]

That was in September 2016. And what a surprise, a month later the Dutch NOS broadcaster suggested that Resch had received neither information nor money from his client. A Dutch blog rehashed the press release and went with the headline, "German detective agency […] is a German hoax agency."[12]

And so Dutch media were relieved to report that 'fortunately' no new information about the attack on MH17 had been found. In the meantime, the following small print can be read in the NOS's report:

"In the first version of this report, we incorrectly concluded that the detective agency probably has no money and no relevant information."[13]

American Truths

On the fatal evening of July 17th, Senator John McCain stood in front of CNN's camera.[14] He was a bit reserved to accuse any party, but insinuated Russian backing to the rebels and acquitted Ukraine. Ukraine, supposedly, did not have surface-to-air missiles. To help them, he said he wants to bring American military support to Ukraine.

Normally, American officials do not have to respond to each plane crash in the world. Definitely not the president. After the MH17 crash, that's what does happen. On July 17th, President Barack Obama has already spoken with Ukraine, Malaysia, and the Netherlands. He held a press conference the next morning.

Obama is certain the aircraft "was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area controlled by separatists within Ukraine that are backed by Russia."[15] He didn't lie. His carefully chosen words only suggest Russian involvement, but he avoided a direct accusation.

In an interview dated July 20th, 2014, with the NBC News's program Meet the Press, Secretary of State John Kerry's performance raised some people's brows:

"We know that [the rebels] had an SA-11 system in the vicinity, literally hours before the shooting down took place. […] We have picked up images of this launch. We know the trajectory, we know where it came from. We know the time. And it was precisely at the moment that this aircraft disappeared from the radar."[16]

Kerry mentions a newspaper report that would prove the Russians had provided the missile but avoids a direct accusation. He does go one step further than Obama by accusing the rebels of the missile attack. Kerry refers to social media postings. The hard evidence he mentioned will never be released.

Americans seize the attack to increase pressure on Russia. That is perfectly understandable, especially since Crimea's hostile takeover by the Russians. But that does not prove that Russia has provided rebels with a missile, nor that rebels shot down MH17. Where is the evidence?

Fake News

The idea that rebels had been in possession of an SA-11 missile that had been stationed near Snizhne did not come from officials, but from the media. As an example, I take a report from the Canadian Globe and Mail dated July 18th, 2014.

Journalist Paul Koring states that "what took down Malaysia Airlines is already known".[17] An SA-11 missile from the Soviet era. The flight data and the flight record probably won't show anything, he thinks. The pilots never saw the five-meter long missile coming.

Koring writes, "The records will probably show that everything was normal and then just stopped." These are details of which one wonders how a Canadian journalist can know all these things a day after the attack since the first experts only arrived at the crash site on July 21st.[18]

Koring writes that evidence for the attack comes from an American spy satellite that had detected a surface-to-air missile launch. But the Americans would never release this satellite evidence. That was made clear once more at a press briefing with Mark Toner of the U.S. State Department on March 2nd, 2016.[19]

The Ukrainian Secret Service

Radio communications intercepted from Russia between rebel commanders supposedly proved that they had shot down flight MH17. This information came directly from the Ukrainian secret service SBU. The service had announced an edited video of the conversations on its own website.[20]

Apparently, the service had intercepted the conversations, including those just 20 to 40 minutes after the attack, analyzed them the same day, verified them, edited them into video's, had the video's translated into eight(!) languages, including Japanese and Turkish, and posted them on YouTube.

The three edited conversations between different people last slightly more than 2 minutes total. The first conversation mentions an aircraft that was downed near Yenakievo. That village is about an hour and seven minutes drive from the MH17 crash site near Hrabove.

The second conversation says that a plane had been shot down from Chernukhino. But that town is about 25 kilometers north of the crash site, north of the international flight route. According to computer simulations done by the Dutch Safety Board, the MH17 could only have been hit from the southeast.[21]

Therefore, the first and second conversations could not have related to flight MH17, although that is what the Ukrainian secret service suggested. Only in the third conversation, the only anonymous person claims to have seen a logo of Malaysian Airlines among the wreckage. But how believable is that third conversation? It has been edited.

The conversations are probably real but put together from older sources. As a whole, the video is a fabrication meant to accuse rebels. Regardless, big players such as Mashable[22], CNN, and many other international media outlets[23] cite from the video through a transcript provided by the Kiev Post, not an independent source.[24]

There wasn't a single journalist in the world that dared question the validity of the leaked conversations. Without expressing a shred of doubt, global media took an amateur YouTube video to represent the truth. What on Earth is wrong with journalism?

Official Denial

Not everyone went along with the media's scenario that the Russians had given the rebels an SA-11 missile. During a June 30th press briefing, NATO general Breedlove confirmed that "we have not seen any of the [Russian] air defense vehicles across the border [with Ukraine]."[25]

That was two weeks before the attack. After the attack, Pentagon press secretary admiral John Kirby stated on July 18th that "defense officials could not point to specific evidence that an SA-11 surface-to-air missile system had been transported from Russia to Ukraine."[26]

If the Russians had not provided an SA-11 system, then the rebels could not have had one.
Ukrainian public prosecutor Vitaly Yarema stated the same day that rebels had not stolen SA-11 missile systems from the Ukrainian army,[27] but this confirmed that the Ukrainian army did possess such systems itself, contradicting an earlier statement by John McCain.[28]

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times dated July 22nd, 2014, American intelligence agencies had been unable to determine the identities and nationalities of the SA-11 missile launch crew. The crew's leader, they speculated, might possibly have been a defector of the Ukrainian army![29]

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps the perpetrators were really pro-Ukrainian combatants as they can be seen and heard in the BBC and News Corp video. It appears that secret services have worked hard to make the true perpetrators appear as Russian-backed rebels - with the support of Western media.

Running around the Radar

According to the DSB's final report, the Ukrainian primary civilian radar systems in the crash area had been deactivated "for planned maintenance".[30] That's why they couldn't detect the SA-11 launch. Those radar images would otherwise have pinpointed the location of the launch and have pointed to the perpetrators.

The primary military radar system had also been switched off because Ukrainian Defense claims no military planes were flying through Ukraine in the relevant area.[31] Excuse me? I thought Ukraine was at war? Were there no Russian planes flying through the area either?

If military planes really did not fly there, then it is inexplicable why rebels did think so and even set up their SA-11 missile system there to shoot at them. Switching off the radar systems makes Ukraine look suspicious. The party that could have proven its own innocence does not have the evidence to do so.

The Americans, too, could have cracked the case by releasing their alleged spy satellite data. These would be from so-called MASINT satellites that are so refined "they would have known precisely where the [SA-11] had been launched, what direction it flew and at what speed."[32]

Americans also use SBIRS satellites that fly at an altitude of 35,400 kilometers in a fixed position above the Earth. Those satellites, too, are "precise enough to detect from which direction a missile was shot and what type of missile it was."[33]

In a hearing with the Dutch Parliament, satellite expert Marco Langbroek testified that at least three American SBIRs satellites had been keeping an eye on the area in Eastern Ukraine.[34] Specifically, "the MH17 crash site is within reach of the USA 184, i.e. the satellite that could provide both infrared and SIGINT data."[35]

But the otherwise so complete DSB report on MH17's crash does not even make mention of the existence of such satellite imagery. The Russian Ministry of Defense justifiably wondered where the American radar images have gone.[36]

Omerta

After requesting information from the Dutch Ministry, it returned only fifty shades of black.

It wouldn't be the first time for the Ukrainian army to 'accidentally' take down an aircraft. On October 4th, 2001, the Ukrainian army fired an SA missile at a practice target, but it missed and flew another 250 kilometers further away.

The projectile automatically locked in on a civilian Tupolev flight. It was an embarrassing accident, especially shortly after the September 11 attacks. The 88 passengers died almost instantly. The captain only had about a second to shout, "Where are we hit?"[37]

Ukrainian officials first denied that their missile had hit the plane. A spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense said it had been technically and theoretically impossible.[38] Two years later, Ukraine was ordered to pay $200,000 dollars in damages to each of the victim's families.

That attitude of denial is what MH17's survivors now also have to deal with. The difference with then and now is that now the Dutch government cooperates in it. "The agreement that the Dutch public prosecutor has made with Ukraine about the international investigation team that investigates the MH17 disaster MH17 is and will remain secret,"[39] wrote Elsevier Magazine in 2014.

Elsevier and other Dutch media had requested more information from the Dutch government, but the judge denied their request. The relation with other governments is more important than one's own citizens' rights. The Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, and Australia remained silent, but Malaysia, the aircraft's owner, was initially sidelined. Only after insisting, Malaysia was finally allowed to participate in the investigation.

From a judicial standpoint, it is bizarre that Ukraine, a possible perpetrator, was allowed to judge its own case and even received the right to veto what information ought to be kept secret.

A Billionaire with a Private Army

On March 25th, 2015, candy billionaire and president Petro Poroshenko (left) fired aviation billionaire and governor Ihor Kolomoyskyi (right) from his post.

Of all conspiracy theories, one must be true. The data I have collected in this piece acquits rebels of the MH17 attack. The perpetrators must have been Ukrainian combatants. But if they were not soldiers of the Ukrainian government, then who were they?

Mainstream media don't write about it much, but Ukraine has two armies, a government army and aviation billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskyi's private militias who are waging a far more aggressive war against the neighboring Donetsk-rebels in the east.

The area where MH17 crashed borders with Dnepropetrovsk, where Kolomoyskyi was governor at the time. The anti-Russian billionaire got the job on March 2nd, 2014, but was fired from it a year later in 2015 by the new Ukrainian president Poroshenko.[40]

Compensating for weaknesses, the billionaire assisted the government army with his own private battalions consisting of volunteers.[41] The IB Times even called it a private army.[42] Kolomoyskyi founded the Dnipro-battalion with 10 million dollars and subsidized the volunteers of the Aidar, Azov, Dnepr 1, Dnepr 2 and Donbas battalions.

These militiamen are nationalists fighting against Alexander Borodai's Russian-backed separatists.[43] One of the militants expressed the sentiments as follows: "Dnepropetrovsk will become a second Stalingrad to those who want war here. And the Ukrainians will win."[44]

Not the Ukrainian army, but Kolomoyskyi's private army was in control of the areas adjacent to the MH17 crash site. Not Russian-backed rebels, but Kolomoyskyi's private militias reached the crash site first.

Conclusion

MH17 was not downed by Russian-backed rebels. The entire scenario of a BUK rocket hitting MH17 is unlikely. The scenario of MH17 being shot down by fighter jets is also as unlikely. All of the information surrounding either of these scenarios is state propaganda, meant for media-consuming masses, either trying to incriminate Russia or Ukraine.

In reality, MH17 was a false-flag attack conducted by Western secret services, enlisting the help of Ukraine and its secret service, the SBU. Ground efforts were conducted by a certain Ukrainian billionaire's private army. 297 people were killed to make the attack appear as though it were executed by pro-Russian rebels.

And the easiest way to make it appear as though flight MH17 were shot down by a Russian-owned rocket? Detonate bombs aboard the flight.

Epilogue

President Poroshenko of Ukraine is happy with the toys he got from Santa Claus.

When Hitler seized power, he did not count on the German people to support his wars. In order to wage war on Poland, Hitler had German soldiers dress up as Poles to shoot at innocent people in border areas. According to Thomas Sowell, this was made possible by an isolated, "government-controlled press".[45]

What happened on July 17th, 2014, parents witness every day at schoolyards. A boy hits a girl, runs to his mother and blames another boy, after which the mother reprimands that other boy.

The goal was to receive American and European support to wage war on the rebels. They succeeded. By early 2015, the American Senate approved a resolution by Ron Johnson to send $350 million dollars worth of military support to Ukraine, "condemning the deliberate targeting of civilians by Russian-backed rebels".[46]

I close with two observations. MH17's victims served as an excuse to escalate a war against Russia. Western media are not free, but isolated and controlled by governments.

Notes

[1]News Corp Australia, Horror Video Reveals MH17 Crash Aftermath, 2015,

.

[2]Jon Donnison, "Looking Forward to Apology from @dailytelegraph & @australian over Their #MH17 Video 'world Exclusive' that Was Broadcast a Year Ago on BBC.," microblog, @jondonnisonbbc, (July 17, 2015), https://twitter.com/jondonnisonbbc/status/621974795811291136.

[3]Roy Greenslade, "BBC Correspondent Disputes News Corp Claims over MH17 Footage," The Guardian, July 17, 2015, sec. Media, https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jul/17/bbc-correspondent-disputes-news-corp-claims-over-mh17-footage.

[4]News Corp, "MH17 Video Transcript: Rebels Thought Shot down Plane Was a Ukraine Fighter Jet," July 16, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20150716204114/http://www.news.com.au/national/full-transcript-russian-backed-rebels-ransack-the-wreckage-of-mh17-in-shocking-17-minute-video/story-e6frfkp9-1227444629703.

[5]Tjibbe Joustra, "Crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Harbove, Ukraine, 17 July 2014" (Den Haag: Dutch Safety Board, October 2014), 116–35.

[6]Lorenzo Cremonesi, "«Così È Stato Colpito L'aereo»," Corriere Della Sera, July 22, 2014, http://www.corriere.it/esteri/14_luglio_22/cosi-stato-colpito-l-aereo-0a7e5f9e-115f-11e4-affb-3320a03d21e8.shtml.

[7]Lorenzo Cremonesi, "How Malaysian Plane Was Shot Down," W, July 22, 2014, http://www.corriere.it/english/14_luglio_22/how-malaysian-plane-was-shot-down-51e99c60-118f-11e4-affb-3320a03d21e8.shtml.

[8]Paul Elderling and Jolande Van der Graaf, "'Ik Weet de Waarheid over MH17'," De Telegraaf, June 25, 2016, https://www.pressreader.com/netherlands/de-telegraaf/20160625/282140700679933.

[9]Jens Brambusch, "MH17-Ermittler Droht Haft: 'Der BGH Bringt Mich in Lebensgefahr,'" Stern.de, September 14, 2016, http://www.stern.de/7056022.html.

[10]Jens Brambusch, "Razzia Bei MH-17-Ermittler," March 29, 2016, http://www.capital.de/themen/razzia-bei-mh-17-ermittler.html.

[11]Maxi Hartberger, "'Man Spielt Nicht Mit 298 Toten,'" Tegernseer Stimme, September 22, 2016, https://tegernseerstimme.de/man-spielt-nicht-mit-289-toten/223121.html.

[12]Redactie, "Duits Detectivebureau Wifka Betrokken Bij MH17 Blijkt Duits Hoaxbureau," ThePostOnline, October 31, 2016, http://nieuws.tpo.nl/2016/10/31/duits-detectivebureau-wifka-betrokken-mh17-blijkt-duits-hoaxbureau/.

[13]Redactie, "OM Vindt Lege Kluis in Onderzoek Detectivebureau MH17," October 31, 2016, http://nos.nl/artikel/2140718-om-vindt-lege-kluis-in-onderzoek-detectivebureau-mh17.html.

[14]selfownership1, John McCain Unveils True Motive For Shooting MH-17 To Escalate War With Russia, 2014,

.

[15]The Daily Conversation, Obama: Flight MH17 "Was Shot Down Over Ukraine," 2014,

.

[16]Alastair Jamieson, "Kerry Says Evidence Shows Russian-Backed Separatists Downed MH17," NBC News, July 20, 2014, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-plane-crash/kerry-says-evidence-shows-russian-backed-separatists-downed-mh17-n160526.

[17]Paul Koring, "MH17: Evidence Points to Launcher in Rebel-Held Territory," July 18, 2014, sec. news, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/mh17-evidence-points-to-launcher-in-rebel-held-territory/article19682330/.

[18]Polly Mosendz, "Forensics Experts Finally Arrive at MH17 Site," The Atlantic Wire, July 21, 2014, http://news.yahoo.com/forensics-experts-finally-arrive-mh17-134126243.html.

[19]Mark Toner, Daily Press Briefing - March 2, 2016, 2016, https://statedept.brightcovegallery.com/detail/videos/category/video/4783568973001/?autoStart=true&linkBaseURL=https%3A%2F%2Fstatedept.brightcovegallery.com%2Fdetail%2Fvideos%2Fcategory%2Fvideo%2F4783568973001%2F%3FautoStart%3Dtrue.

[20]SBU, "Служба Безпеки України," July 18, 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20140718152833/http://www.sbu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=129035&cat_id=39574.

[21]Joustra, "Crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Harbove, Ukraine, 17 July 2014," 143–47.

[22]Christopher Miller Wills Brian Ries & Amanda, "Rebel Leader in Alleged Leaked Audio: We Just Shot Down a Plane," Mashable, July 17, 2014, http://mashable.com/2014/07/17/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-russia-cossacks-leaked-audio/.

[23]Charles Miranda and Mark Dunn, "'We Have Shot down a Plane,'" NewsComAu, July 17, 2014, http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/russian-rebels-are-likely-responsible-for-shooting-down-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh17-over-the-ukraine/news-story/eb6f5061e5241f88ef1024e1e847d593.

[24]Kyiv Post, "SBU Intercepts Phone Conversations of Separatists Admitting Downing a Civilian Plane (FULL TRANSCRIPT; VIDEO)," KyivPost, July 18, 2014, https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/murder-in-the-sky-malaysia-airlines-flight-17/separatists-admit-downing-a-civilian-plane-in-tapped-conversation-full-transcript-356545.html.

[25]Craig Whitlock, "Separatists Said to Have Received Antiaircraft Training in Russia," Washington Post, July 18, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/separatists-said-to-have-had-anti-aircraft-training-in-russia/2014/07/18/0af398f2-0e82-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html.

[26]Ibid.

[27]"Военные Доложили Порошенко: Террористы Не Захватывали украинский 'Бук,'" Украинская Правда, accessed June 7, 2017, http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2014/07/18/7032278/.

[28]selfownership1, John McCain Unveils True Motive For Shooting MH-17 To Escalate War With Russia.

[29]Brian Bennett, "U.S. Officials Believe Attack against Malaysian Plane Was Mistake," Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2014, http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-ukraine-intelligence-us-20140722-story.html.

[30]Joustra, "Crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Harbove, Ukraine, 17 July 2014," 38.

[31]Joustra, "Crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Harbove, Ukraine, 17 July 2014."

[32]Ralph Vartabedian and W. J. Hennigan, "High-Tech Spycraft Tracked Missile's Path to Malaysia Airlines Jet," Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2014, http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-fg-satellites-ukraine-missile-20140717-story.html.

[33]Megan Gannon, "Military Satellites Likely Saw Missile Strike on Malaysian Airlines Flight," Space.com, accessed June 7, 2017, http://www.space.com/26571-military-satellites-malaysia-airlines-missile-mh17.html.

[34]Marco Langbroek, "Position Paper T.b.v. Hoorzitting/rondetafelgesprek Beleidsreactie Onderzoeksrapporten over MH17," Text (Den Haag: Tweede Kamer, January 14, 2016), https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/detail.

[35]Marco Langbroek, "SIGINT, IMINT and MH17," January 20, 2016, https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2016/01/sigint-imint-and-mh17.html.

[36]RT, Malaysian Airlines Plane Crash: Russian Military Unveil Data on MH17 Incident over Ukraine (FULL), n.d.,

.

[37]Michael Wines, "After 9 Days, Ukraine Says Its Missile Hit A Russian Jet," The New York Times, October 14, 2001, sec. World, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/world/after-9-days-ukraine-says-its-missile-hit-a-russian-jet.html.

[38]Alan Philps, "Airliner Blasted out of Sky," October 4, 2001, sec. World, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/1358586/Airliner-blasted-out-of-sky.html.

[39]Servaas Van der Laan, "Ministerie Weigert Geheime Deal MH17 Openbaar Te Maken - Elsevier.nl," Elsevier Weekblad, December 1, 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20141201023447/http://www.elsevier.nl/Politiek/achtergrond/2014/11/Ministerie-weigert-geheime-overeenkomst-MH17-openbaar-te-maken-1647600W/.

[40]Richard Balmforth, "Ukraine Leader Fires Powerful Oligarch Kolomoisky as Regional Chief," Reuters, March 25, 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-oligarch-idUSKBN0ML0CG20150325.

[41]Sophie Pinkham, "Watching the Ukrainian Oligarchs," The New Yorker, April 2, 2015, http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/watching-the-ukrainian-oligarchs.

[42]Aditya Tejas, "Ukrainian Oligarch Igor Kolomoisky Resigns After Tense Standoff With Poroshenko Over UkrNafta," International Business Times, March 25, 2015, http://www.ibtimes.com/ukrainian-oligarch-igor-kolomoisky-resigns-after-tense-standoff-poroshenko-over-1858314.

[43]Damien Sharkov, "Ukrainian Nationalist Volunteers Committing 'ISIS-Style' War Crimes," Newsweek, September 10, 2014, http://www.newsweek.com/evidence-war-crimes-committed-ukrainian-nationalist-volunteers-grows-269604.

[44]Vijai Maheshwari, "The Town Determined to Stop Putin," The Daily Beast, December 6, 2014, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/12/dnipropetrovsk-the-ukrainian-town-determined-to-stop-putin.

[45]Thomas Sowell, Black Rednecks and White Liberals, 1st ed. (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2005), 188.

[46]Kate Scanlon, "House and Senate Ask Obama to Send Military Aid to Ukraine," The Daily Signal, March 26, 2015, http://dailysignal.com/2015/03/26/house-and-senate-pressure-president-obama-to-send-military-aid-to-ukraine/.